UNC men’s hoops team runs away from NAU, keeps share of conference lead

University of Northern Colorado's Connor Osborne hangs on the rim after the slam dunk while playing against Northern Arizona at Butler Hancock Sports Pavilion on Thursday night. The Bears won 87-72 to remain undefeated at home.

» Best individual performance: NAU guard Quinton Upshur put on a shooting exhibition with seven 3-pointers and hitting 11 for 13 from the field for 32 points.

» Turning point: In the first half, the Bears stretched their led to 10 on a 3-pointer by Tate Unruh with 3 minutes, 58 seconds left. It was the beginning of the end for NAU.

» What it means: The Bears continue to be the team to beat in the Big Sky Conference and have the numbers to prove it. However, their goals are to win the BSC regular season in order to play host for the conference postseason tournament.

» Next up: Sacramento State at 7:05 Saturday night.

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The University of Northern Colorado men’s basketball team fit the bill Thursday night at Butler-Hancock Sports Pavilion — worthy of prime time, playing as advertised and worth the price of admission.

Three clichés that described the Bears’ performance.

UNC 87, Northern Arizona 72.

Any questions?

Did the Bears put up any numbers that stand out in keeping a share of first place in the Big Sky Conference 6-1, 12-4 overall?

» How about 59.3 percent from the floor, including 11 of 16 from 3-point range.

Were the Bears able to put it on ice in the second half? Was NAU forced into playing catch-up after halftime?

» Yes, and yes.

In the last five minutes, the Bears’ lineup featured three non-starters as there was no question about the outcome.

With a 13-point lead to start the second half, the Bears put the pedal to the metal, maintaining at least a 16-point lead before widening the gap to 22 with eight minutes, 16 seconds left to play.

Was UNC’s performance worthy of prime time?

» A crowd of 1,601 — the biggest of the season — certainly thought so, creating an atmosphere that senior guard Tate Unruh called “unbelievable” as the Bear ran their homecourt win streak to 10.

How pleased was UNC coach B.J. Hill?

» Well, four out of five isn’t bad.

NAU was good for 53.2 percent from the floor — which will be addressed this afternoon in practice — led by Quinton Upshur’s game-high 32 points on 11 for 13 from the floor, 7 for 8 from beyond the arc.

Upshur picked up four fouls by the 8:16 mark in the second half when the Bears had stretched their led to 22.

Every other aspect of the Bears’ game is worthy of noting.

» Nine turnovers, a season low, to 13 assists.

» Six steals, which aided 19 points off of turnovers.

» UNC had 10 second-chance points, 14 on fast break baskets and 27 off the bench.

“Offensively, I don’t know if we’ve been in a rhythm like that yet this year,” Hill said. “Especially from 3 ... 11 for 16 is pretty ridiculous.”

Ridiculous in a good way.

Unruh was primarily responsible for that, draining 5 of 7 from beyond the arc en route to 20 points.

“It was nice to see some shots go in,” Unruh said. “Once I hit a couple ... my teammates, it’s like whatever they need to do to get me open, they do. It’s good to see shots go in from everybody.”

Junior forward Tim Huskisson was good on 3 of 5 howitzers on his way to 19 points with four rebounds, two blocks and two steals.

The Bears started fast, sending a message to the Lumberjacks (5-2, 8-10) as Unruh hit two key 3-pointers to answer the shooting exhibiton Upshur was putting on, hitting 9 of 10 from the field in the first 20 minutes, 5 of 5 from 3-point range.

After agreeing how key the early lead was, Huskisson added “they shot 50 percent in the first half. We made shots. That’s the game in the nutshell.

“We allowed a guy (Upshur) to go get 32. That’s not OK. That’s not our identity. It’s not what’s gotten us to where we are.”

Upshur made several baskets off fast breaks, a couple more off the Bears’ rotating defense and was a huge part of NAU’s offense. Reserve guard Kris Yanku was good for 20 points, getting to the line for nine free throws.

“One guy isn’t going to beat us,” Huskisson explained. “Just the atmosphere we have at home. This place is the Bear Den and we’re very comfortable here. We need to re-evaluate ourselves on the defensive end.”

Nonetheless, Hill will take the Bears’ offensive fireworks — they slammed home five dunks, staring with Huskisson’s follow up dunk on the Bears’ second possession to reserve Dominique Lee’s flying slam with 14:41 that drew a technical foul for hanging on the rim too long — but wants better defense.

Hill credited Unruh, Derrick Barden (14 points, six rebounds) and Connor Osborne (who’s playing time was limited due to a sore knee) explaining, “When they’re called to the fire, they’ve shown up,” but he expects more defense.

Hill added, “we kind of went back to our old mentality of trying to outscore somebody and that’s disappointing. These guys have lofty goals. And they should.

“I don’t want to be Debbie Downer, and I’m very happy with the win. I’ll take an ugly win over a pretty loss any day.”